Krishanthy - Sri Lanka

“I had to learn how to stand on my own feet and take care of my young daughter."

Krishanthy's marriage to a Sinhalese man was frowned upon in her Tamil community, so when her husband went missing in 2008 she didn’t receive any support from her family. “I realised pretty quickly that society does not treat a single mother with much respect.”

She now runs a tuition centre for children and the money she earns helps educate her daughter and pay her rent. It has been nine years since the conflict ended in Sri Lanka, but for the families of the missing, the quest for their loved ones continues.

The International Red Cross runs a program providing families with psychosocial and livelihood support. “I bought benches from the money I received under the program,” says Krishanthy. “It helped me to establish my tuition centre.” Photo: ICRC/Rhema Mukti Baxter/CC BY-NC-ND.